Microsoft to Acquire aQuantive, Inc. — Company details plans to build Internet-wide advertising platform for advertisers, publishers and ad agencies. — Microsoft Corp. today announced it will acquire aQuantive, Inc., for $66.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6 billion.

aQuantive: Who are these guys? — The instant messages and emails about Microsoft's $6 billion purchase of aQuantive go something like this: — "Whoa that's a big deal." — "I'd hate to be short aQuantive." — "If Microsoft was going to spend that much why didn't it just buy Doubleclick?"

Rumour: Google to buy Feedburner — I have just heard from a VERY trusted source that Google is buying Feedburner in order to get into the rapidly evolving RSS Ad market. The delay in announcing the deal, I am told is solely due to the delay in closing out the DoubleClick deal.

Rumormonger: Google buying Feedburner for about $100m — On the surface, this looks like a straightforward story. Google is tightening its grip on text advertising with the acquisition of Feedburner. We've confirmed yesterday's speculation on the Mountain View search engine's latest deal …

Now that Feedburner Story.... Every so often we hear about Chicago-based FeedBurner, the RSS remixer/syndicator is getting bought by someone. This morning, Sam Sethi pointed out that Feedburner was in talks with Google. Valleywag says they have a confirmation and the price range is in the $100 million ballpark.

Popfly — You probably haven't heard of it, but you're also probably going to start hearing a lot about it in the near future. — Popfly is being announced today - as I'm posting this, actually. — To keep it short and simple so you can get right to watching the video …

Facebook growing, but more roadkill coming? — Facebook is growing quickly, adding between 100,000 and 150,000 new users per day, the company tells us, with the highest growth rates coming from abroad. — Particularly noteworthy is its traction in Canada, where it has more than 2 million active users …

AACS Updated, Broken Again — We predicted in past posts that AACS, the encryption system intended to protect HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies, would suffer a gradual meltdown from its inability to respond quickly enough to attacks. Like most DRM, AACS depends on the secrecy of encryption keys built into hardware and software players.

Yahoo 'censored' Flickr comments — Yahoo has been accused of censorship on its popular photo website Flickr, in a row that has highlighted the issue of copyright in the online age. — Earlier this month photographer Rebekka Gudleifsdóttir discovered that seven of her pictures …

Global net censorship 'growing' — The level of state-led censorship of the net is growing around the world, a study of so-called internet filtering by the Open Net Initiative suggests. — The study of thousands of websites across 120 Internet Service Providers and found 25 …

Who will be America's First TechPresident? — As we enter the 21st Century our country faces daunting challenges. We must address terrorism, global warming, our failing healthcare and public education systems, our dependence on nonrenewable energy resources, and other looming issues.

Even Yahoo! Gets the Blues — CEO Semel's next turnaround task: Boost morale and keep employees from leaving — It was a bit of good news that Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel really needed: Following a lengthy search, the Internet company on May 15 hired a new chief financial officer …